We are going to travel to Spain and rent a car. We have a garmin that has an SD slot. Where can we buy the card for the least cost for either Europe or just Spain. Should we purchase the one that updates on its own or a one time item??? A bit confusing. Thank you!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23626 posts
The old fall back - Amazon.com or e-bay. I would just purchase a current SD and resell it on ebay when you get home.
Posted by
OP
Kirkland, WA, USA
11 posts
Thank you....I like your idea....
Posted by
Dallas
1022 posts
Alternately, and if you have a smart phone, check into GPS apps. The advantages over a separate unit are one less item to carry and free updates.
Posted by
Wyckoff, NJ, USA
7889 posts
This is not the place to go into all the details, but based on my experience, even if you have a Europe-enabled Garmin .... getting it to use the SD card is a non-trivial task. This is true even if you are a computer whiz. Even if you succeed, performance will be harmed by the relative slowness of even a Class 10 SD card. There are multiple issues, which depend on how old your Garmin is. If your post means that Garmin (and not some overseas Ebay seller) has offered you a card that they warrant to work " out of the box", and that they warrant to accept future map updates, that is worth a LOT extra. I have become disillusioned about Garmin in recent years, however ... .
Posted by
Beverly Hills, MI
813 posts
Take the Garmin with a new SD map card, and don't get caught up over the cost of a new card. It is very easy to use the map card, just make sure you have pushed it all the way into the slot and that's it. You also will want some paper maps to supplement the GPS screen since the screen is small and it does not show where you are on the grand scale of things. Don't fall for the smart phone GPS, it's a sucker bet! The phone has GPS but it does not have the maps stored on it, the data charges for the maps will kill you.
Posted by
Victoria, BC, Canada
101 posts
We purchsed the Garmin maps for Europe and found it really invaluable. .. We purchsed the newvi 2475 LT which came with Europe maps already installed. We intalled the initial 1st 'free' update which seemed to take a long time to download and did involve a few phone calls to Garmin. .. Once in Spain we sat in the car hire carpark for quite a while as the Garmin initially said no Sat reception, Since we were in the centre of Valencia we found this hard to believe, My hubby added the 'antenna' that comes with the system and it seemed to give the boost that was needed and once the SatNav got used to our new position in Europe it worked as it would back home for the 5 weeks we were there. . We would never attempt to drive in Europe again without one.. LOVED IT!! .
Enjoy your trip :)
Posted by
OP
Kirkland, WA, USA
11 posts
thank you all so much for enlightment with GPS use in Spain!!! Can't wait to go!! Debbie